Detecting data changes in forms using jQuery

Question

I\'m using ASP.NET 2.0 with a Master Page, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to detect when the fields within a certain

or fieldset<

Answer 1

For a form you could serialize the contents on load then compare serialization at a later time, e.g.:

$(function(){
    var initdata=$('form').serialize();
    $('form').submit(function(e){
        e.preventDefault();
        var nowdata=$('form').serialize();
        if(initdata==nowdata) console.log('nothing changed'); else console.log('something changed');
        // save
        initdata=nowdata;
        $.post('settings.php',nowdata).done(function(){
            console.log('saved');
        });
    });
});

Note this requires form elements to have a name attribute.